CLINICAL blood tests currently require bulky counting machines, trained technicians and about two syringe-fulls of your precious fluid. But a tiny new system designed to monitor astronauts’ health promises to take less of your blood than a mosquito bite.

The handheld device uses a “laboratory on a chip” to examine minute samples of blood at the molecular level and will provide accurate appraisals in about two minutes.

The machine has been developed by the American National Space Biomedical Research Institute, in anticipation of a new Nasa programme to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars. The testing machines would give Mission Control instant updates on the state of their physiology.

But meanwhile, back on Earth, the palm-sized analysers could prove a boon in the care of tiny babies, says one of its developers, Dr Yu-Chong Tai. “The technology could be used in neonatal care since large blood draws are not possible with infants,” he explains.

The machine splits the blood into red and white cells and analyses the samples using a pair of microscopic counters that examine components such as lipids, proteins and oxygen, to build a profile of the patient’s health.

Boozing boosts women’s brain power

ALL those rabid headlines about binge-drinking women are enough to make a girl think that she should never touch a drop again, but a new study reports that one or two drinks a day can improve female brain power.

The research, in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, says that women who have a couple of daily glasses score about 20 per cent higher in intelligence tests than women who don’t drink, or drink very little.

The researcher, Clinton Wright, an assistant professor of neurology at Columbia University, New York, is unsure why moderate drinking might have this effect on women. Nor did his study of 2,215 people find any such link between men’s boozing and boosted brains. This might come as little surprise, but Wright says that the problem may stem from the fact that he had great trouble finding male teetotallers who could provide a sober benchmark.

Drink isn’t the least of it with men: their brains are also far more likely to get high on amphetamines, says a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Male brains produce three times more of the feelgood chemical dopamine than female brains after taking speed, says the study in the Journal of Biological Psychiatry.

Virtual nagging

AN ELECTRONIC Euro-nanny could soon be nagging you with gems of personalised health advice in restaurants, gyms and supermarkets, sent straight to your mobile phone.

The European Union is funding a “virtual healthcare assistant” that will record your personal health profile on the internet and then send you real-time tailored advice whenever you get into a lifestyle quandary over food or exercise choices.

The Milan-based project developing the system is titled Pips (Personalised Information Platform for Health and Life Services). Alberto Sanna, the project co-ordinator, said this week that it should help “anyone looking to lead a healthier life”. He added: “It emulates the relationship between patient and doctor in the virtual realm.”

Makers of food, drink and health products may use it to send advice, too, he said. Anyone who fears that the EU is invading every aspect of our lives may be perturbed to learn that Sanna claims that the impact of his project will be on a par with the discovery of penicillin.

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